


Escape Corridor

by LeslieFish



Category: Highlander - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-21
Updated: 2007-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 06:33:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11868672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeslieFish/pseuds/LeslieFish
Summary: Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived atDaire's Fanfic Refuge. Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onDaire's Fanfic Refuge's collection profile.





	Escape Corridor

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Daire's Fanfic Refuge](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Daire%27s_Fanfic_Refuge). Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Daire's Fanfic Refuge's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/dairesfanficrefuge/profile).

 

Escape Corridor by Leslie Fish

_Escape Corridor_

By Leslie Fish 

* * *

'Happy New Year's day - or afternoon,' said Connor, spooning sugar into his coffee. 'Is anyone else done with the hangover yet?' 

A chorus of groans around the table answered him. 

'Why doesn't immortal healing deal with hangovers?' Duncan asked, pulling his mouth up from his coffee (black) cup. 

'Because,' said Methos, putting on his Dr. Benjamin Adams persona like a glove, 'Hangovers aren't caused by sickness or injury, but by dehydration. If you remember to match each drink with an eight-ounce pure water chaser, you won't have a problem.' 

'Didn't notice you chasing your drinks last night,' Joe grinned, looking only a little green around the gills. He pushed the cream away and reached for the sugar. 

'Well...' Methos shrugged, and snagged the cream pitcher. 'So, even Homer nods.' 

'I'd say we all did a lot of nodding last night,' Connor smiled. 'Then again, we had much to celebrate. I don't believe we four have ever been all together before. 'Tis quite a clan we're gathering; well worth the next morning's hangover.' 

'The hangover wasn't the worst of it,' Joe grimaced, rubbing his forehead. 'I kept getting jerked out of sleep by a long, rambling, incoherent nightmare.' 

Connor and Duncan gave him a sympathetic look. Methos raised an eyebrow. 'If you're wakened during, or right after, a nightmare you tend to remember it. What was it all about?' 

'Totally bizarre,' said Joe, pausing to take a swig of his coffee. 'Living proof that if you die in your dreams, you don't necessarily die in real life.' 

'You died?' Duncan pricked up his ears. 

'About halfway through,' Joe admitted, 'But somehow I got to see the rest of it, sort of like a bad play that you can't just get up and leave.' 

'But what else happened?' Methos nudged. 

'Oh, it was totally weird. I dreamed that-' He turned to look at Duncan. '-despite your beating Ahriman seven years ago, the world went to hell anyway. The cities all looked like garbage dumps, and there were cannibals running around killing people, and the sky was always overcast by day...' 

Connor flinched at that, and looked thoughtful. 

'But at night it was clear, and you could see all the planets lining up overhead, bigger than the full moon.' 

'An astronomical impossibility,' Methos purred. 'If they were all that close, the gravitational forces would have ripped them apart - not to mention the Earth, too. But go on. What happened?' 

'Uh, well,' Joe blushed noticeably, and turned to Duncan again. 'I dreamed that you'd gotten married...' 

Duncan's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. 

'To the lively Amanda?' Connor chuckled. 

'No, to a mortal woman - never met or heard of her before - and then she left him, because she wanted children.' 

'Aha!' Methos smirked, 'And Duncan went into one of his famous MacLeod brooding spells, right?' 

'How did you know?' Joe gaped at him. 

'I know the MacLeod brothers,' said Methos, glancing from Duncan to Connor - who was indeed wearing a brooding look. 'So then what happened?' 

'Then she came back, saying she'd had mystical visions about some magical power-source that the Immortals needed to find, so we picked up Methos and another couple of Immortals and went off to look for it.' 

'Any Immortals we know?' Connor asked. 

'None I ever saw or heard of before,' Joe admitted. 'Oh yeah, and the Watchers' organization was shattered too, so we were pretty much on our own.' 

'Was I there?' Connor interrupted. 

'No, out of the picture.' Joe shrugged. 'So we all went rampaging around in eastern Europe, running into a couple of really freaky Immortals - one of them had some sort of super-speed powers and kept trying to kill the lot of us - until we got near the target spot. Trouble was, the closer we got the more you guys lost your immortality. I got killed trying to shoot the bad guy, and you fellas went on without me.' 

'Did we ever get to the magic place?' Duncan asked. 

'Yeah, pursued by hordes of cannibals.' Joe shook his head and took another sip of coffee. 'Methos here hopped on a horse and played 'chase me' to draw them off.' 

'Oh? Did the cannibals catch me?' Methos asked, arching an eyebrow again. 

'Nah. You could outride those bastards any day of the week - and besides, you had the best horse.' 

Methos burst out laughing. 

'So we got to the magic spot, where all the stars and planets were aligned right over us... Well, just Mac and the girl by then. And Mac fought the bad guy and won.' 

'Despite his super-speed?' Connor grinned. 

'Oh yeah. By that time, Mac, you had super-speed too - so you ran circles around the bad guy, who kept turning to face you, until he drilled himself into the ground.' 

'I screwed him into the ground?' Duncan did his best to look offended, while the others bayed with laughter. 

'I swear,' Joe insisted, 'It looked just like a Japanese cartoon. Then you didn't take his head, but he died and went up in a Quickening anyway.' 

'Wonderfully convenient,' Methos chuckled. 

'And what happened to Duncan then?' Connor insisted. 

'Well...' Joe blushed. 'He stepped into the center of the magic spot with the girl, and their clothes vanished, and, uh, he got her pregnant.' 

'Bravo!' Methos cheered. 'Under the aligned planets, yet. I've heard of cosmic orgasms, but this is really imaginative. What happened next?' 

'That was it,' Joe shrugged apologetically. 'I guess that was the point of the whole exercise. Anyway, I woke up after that.' 

'So you died,' Connor noted, 'Duncan got fertility, and... Did everybody get their immortality back? Did the planets go back to their assigned routine? Did Methos kill all the cannibals?' 

'Dunno. As I said, it ended there. Rambling and incoherent, but it scared the piss out of me at the time.' 

'Well, at least it had a happy ending, of sorts,' said Methos. 

'Not all nightmares do,' Duncan frowned. 

Connor caught that. 'I take it you've had some that didn't?' he asked gently. 

'Just one really bad one,' Duncan admitted. 'A few years ago, same conditions: too much whiskey before I fell asleep.' He met Connor's eyes with a somber look. 'I dreamed...that you disappeared into some Watcher-run imitation monastery for ten years...' 

'This must have been set in the future too,' Connor's smile vanished. 'What had happened to John and Alexandra? Were they dead?' 

'I didn't see anything about them, but...' Duncan bit his lip. 

'Go on. 'Tis just a dream, _mo brochair._ ' 

'Rachel had been killed in an explosion. That's why you did it.' 

'The MacLeod brothers seem to have a weakness for clinical depression,' Methos noted. 

'Hey, whose dream was it?' Joe countered. 'Go on, Mac. Get it off your chest.' 

Duncan smiled briefly, and plowed ahead. 'Then this enemy Immortal, who'd been hunting for you since 'way back in Glennfinnan, broke in with a bunch of henchmen and killed all the Immortals there except you.' 

Connor blinked. 'He was after me, but he left me alive and killed everybody else?' 

'He wanted you to suffer.' Duncan hitched his shoulders higher. 'Somehow I felt it, all the way west to Vancouver, and came to New York looking for you. The Watchers grabbed me and tried to stuff me in that fake-monastery too, but Methos and Joe broke me out of it.' 

'I detect a certain distrust for the Watchers in this,' murmured Methos. 

'Not surprising,' Joe sighed. 'You know how he stumbled onto us, don't you?' 

'Those renegade bastards who killed Darius,' Connor glowered. 'I hope you killed the lot of them.' 

'They've all been dealt with,' Joe promised. 'But go on, Mac. Did you find Connor or not?' 

'I found him hiding out in a graveyard,' Duncan duly went on. 

Connor raised both eyebrows. 'I can think of more congenial holy ground to hide out in,' he commented. 

'But then the bad guy showed up.' Duncan gave him a soulful look. 'He taunted you into stepping off holy ground, so you could fight - and he beat you.' 

'Did he take my head then and there? And did you then take his?' 

'No. He just promised to kill everybody you cared about, and then ran off.' 

'And you didn't run after him, catch up to him and drag him down?' Connor grinned. 'I recall you're more fleet-footed than that.' 

'I was busy helping you up,' Duncan grimaced. 'He'd left you in kind of bad shape.' 

'Thoughtful, if not very smart,' Methos commented. 'But what happened then?' 

'Connor disappeared...' 

'Into thin air?' 

'No, he walked away into the mist and I couldn't find him again.' Duncan shot a quick look at Connor. 

'I'm most unlikely to pull a stunt like that on you,' Connor said. 'I've never gone off and not told you, some way or another, where I was, have I?' 

'Well, no. Uh, and there was a lot else going on. You remember Kate, the seamstress, from-' 

'Oh, aye!' Connor laughed. 'Ye were so hot for her - until she picked your purse. Was she in the dream too?' 

Duncan hitched his shoulders again. 'Yes. I dreamed she was a pre-Immortal, and I fell in love with her and married her, and...' 

'Married the vixen?!' Connor snorted into his coffee. 'Duncan, how long before this dream had ye been without a woman?' 

'Well, a good while, but anyway it didn't work out. I gave her her First Death, and she was anything but grateful. So, all these years later she showed up working for the bad guy.' 

'Now that sounds in character. Did she try to take yer head?' 

'No.' It was Duncan's turn to blush. 'She strolled into my bedroom.' 

'I hope ye made good use of her!' 

'Well, yes... But afterward she flitted away again.' 

'Hmmm,' Methos cut in, 'Do I detect a note of sexual frustration here?' 

'But what happened after Connor vanished?' Joe asked. 'Did you see him again?' 

'Yes.' Duncan looked down at his cup. 'He came to my apartment and challenged me.' 

'Me? Challenge you?!' Connor stared at him. 

'You said...' Duncan glanced up, eyes full of misery. 'You couldn't beat the bad guy by yourself, so you...wanted me to take your Quickening, so I could defeat him.' 

Connor sat back in his chair and gave Duncan a long, thoughtful look. 'And did you?' he asked quietly. 

'You...tricked me into that Unstoppable Move,' said Duncan. 'I didn't want to do it, but you...' 

'I understand.' Connor drew a deep breath. 'And afterward?' 

'Afterward, I went and fought the bad guy - and you were with me. I fought with your moves, and heard your voice speak out of my mouth. It was like...possession, but...I wanted it.' 

'And you beat the bad guy?' 

'Yes, but... I lost you.' Duncan peered into his cup as if trying to read omens in it. 'It wasn't a happy ending. That was my worst nightmare, Connor. Worst ever.' 

Connor reached out and gripped Duncan's shoulder for a long moment. 'I had one myself, about fifteen years back,' he said quietly. 'Like you, I'd been pouring down the whiskey a wee bit too much. I dreamed that - again - it was the future, and an ugly future it was, too. Scientists had put a shield around the Earth; I think it was to protect us from a solar flare, but now the flare was gone and they kept the shield up anyway, so all the Earth was dark.' 

''Darkness, Darkness',' Joe muttered. 'Did you ever hear that song?' 

'And other Immortals came hunting me, in the pay of some Immortal bad guy, to keep me from taking the shield down. There wasn't much logic to it. What I remember chiefly is that Ramirez came back.' 

'As a Quickening-ghost?' Methos wanted to know. 

'No, as a solid living man. He gave me help and advice, and eventually...gave up his life so I could succeed. There was a pretty girl involved in it somewhere, but it's Ramirez that I mostly remember.' Connor smiled into Duncan's eyes. 'Like you, I succeeded in beating the bad guy, but lost my teacher.' 

'Damn...' Joe mumbled. 

'All these nightmares are about loss.' Methos was back in Dr. Adams mode again. 'There's some compensation, some great cause to win, but they're still about loss: loss of friends. It's clear enough what's happening here.' 

Duncan and Connor traded bleak looks. 

'But everybody loves and loses,' Joe commented into the stillness. 'It's not just a problem for Immortals. We mortals grow up to watch our parents die, and our older relatives, and older friends - and sometimes the younger ones, too. Don't think you're alone in this just because you live longer.' 

Duncan blinked as the idea sank in. 'Where in our training were we ever taught to expect it?' he asked. 'We should have thought...' 

'Ramirez warned me not to love, lest the loss shatter me,' Connor almost whispered. 'I didna take his advice, and my losses hurt.' 

'And mine,' Duncan echoed. 'You didn't tell me, but you showed me...a sort of detachment, not daring to love too deeply.' 

'I'm sorry for that, _mo brochair._ ' 

'That's why I resented you when you warned me about Kate - but you were right about her.' 

'I pray I never taught ye not to love at all!' 

'No. I had Tessa...for ten good years...' 

'This is going to sound corny,' Joe cut in, 'But remember that a cliché doesn't get to be a cliché unless it's true. As the poet said, 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'.' 

'I second that,' Methos added, lifting his cup. 'Better the emotional roller-coaster ride than emotional barrenness.' He took a sip. 'To throw in another cliché, I do believe that what makes the bad guys into bad guys is the inability to love. Other emotions are simply no substitute.' 

'Is that what the dreams are telling us?' Duncan asked. 'Accept your losses, even shattering losses, and go on? Go on, in the blind faith that someday you'll love again?' 

'A quote from another song,' Connor managed to smile. ''The new wood springs from the roots underground'.' 

Their eyes met in perfect understanding. 

'As for me,' Joe considered, 'I guess my dream means that I'd be happy to see you guys go on after I'm dead. In fact, I'd be royally pissed off if you didn't.' 

'I can also read in it a regret that Immortals can't breed,' Methos added, still sounding scholarly and analytical. 'Not to mention, in the MacLeod brothers' dreams, a touch of sexual frustration.' 

Connor and Duncan rolled their eyes. 

'While we're at it, Dr. Adams,' Joe grinned at him, 'It's your turn. What's the worst nightmare you remember?' 

Methos' face froze. For a long moment nobody said anything. 

Eventually he picked up his coffee and took a sip. 'I really can't choose between them,' he said. 'I must have had one for every few centuries...which comes up to quite a crowd. I will say that they differ from your dreams in one aspect.' 

'What's that?' Joe asked, guessing that he wouldn't get much more information. 

'They're not about the future. My nightmares are all memories.' 

\--END-- 

* * *

© 2008   
Please send comments to the author! 

09.21.2007 

* * *


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